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There was this man who was devoting a lot of time to his “No. 2”
but without neglecting his primary duties to his “No. 1”
“That’s multi-tasking!” he bragged.
I am reminded of this anecdote because Senate
President Manuel Villar loves to boast of a “multi-tasking”
Senate. He maintains that the Senate has been able to pursue its
investigations in aid of legislation without neglecting its primary
duty to enact laws. But what if one becomes more obsessed with his
“Number 2,” in the case of the legislature, with inquiries, to
the detriment of its No. 1—lawmaking—functions? This happened at
the Senate of the 13th Congress. Will this happen again in the 14th?
Most of the senators in the First Regular
Session of the 14th Congress attend inquiries that are covered live
by radio and cable television, but very few participate in
back-breaking committee hearings even on vital bills.
It is a tribute to the leadership of Villar that
the Senate has been very productive in churning out measures despite
many senators’ being more enamored with investigations.
Multi-tasking? Well, not so fast! The power of the legislature to
conduct inquiries is under review by the Supreme Court. Sen. Alan
Peter Cayetano, Blue Ribbon chairman, has frozen its inquiry into
the $329-million national broadband network deal while the Court
case is unresolved. If the Court rules in favor of the Senate,
expect Cayetano to devote a lot of time to the legislature’s No.
2. There is a long line of inquiries awaiting the attention of the
blue ribbon after the aborted NBN deal. Abangan ang susunod na
kabanata!
Broader legislative powers
Senate Minority Leader Nene Pimetel wants the
legislature to have broader powers once the federal government he is
proposing is in place. Among his proposed amendments, I find most
interesting those seeking to beef up Congress’ power of the purse
and the Commission on Appointments.
The erosion of Congress’ power of the purse
started when the dictator Ferdinand Marcos issued Presidential
Decree 1177, ironically called the Budget Reform Law. This law
virtually zings the annual budget passed painstakingly by Congress
as it grants Malacañang the power to cut and realign items in the
executive budget and provides for the automatic appropriation of
debt services.
The constitutional amendments proposed by Nene
do not touch Malacañang’s power to cut and realign items in the
executive budget. However, they seek to give the legislature a
bigger say in foreign loans. Under the present Constitution,
Congress has nothing to do in the signing of foreign loans. Neither
can it stop the payment of loans when due because such payments are
automatically appropriated. This would no longer be so should the
Charter amendments being sought be Nene becomes a reality.
A proposed new section of the Constitution
states that: “The power of the President to contract or guarantee
foreign loans on behalf of the Republic shall need the concurrence
of the Senate and the House of Representatives voting separately
prior to the signing of the contract or guarantee.”
Nene also wants to remove the veil of secrecy
surrounding foreign loans. He has proposed another section stating
that contracts involving foreign loans signed by appropriate
government officials are deemed public documents, which shall be
made available to the public upon demand subject to the payment of
reasonable fees to cover the costs of photocopying or reproduction.
The Commission on Appointments
A presidential appointee who gets bypassed at
the Commission on Appointments (CA) is invariably extended another
appointment. There have been cases where a controversial nominee to
a Cabinet post gets bypassed up to seven times but gets re-nominated
each time. Perhaps, if all nominees have delicadeza like
Representative Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro, there would be no
problem at all. Rodriguez asked President Arroyo not to reappoint
him as ambassador to Germany after getting bypassed once.
The proposed new Constitution seeks to
strengthen the power of this bicameral appointment body. It provides
that presidential appointees made by the President bypassed twice by
the CA for any reason shall be considered “automatically withdrawn
and without legal effect.” The twice-bypassed nominees or
appointees may not be re-nominated or reappointed.
Another proposal of Nene is certain to raise a
hornet’s nest—the abolition of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC)
and the subjecting of all appointments to the judiciary to
confirmation by the CA. The JBC was created to strengthen the
judiciary and isolate the selection of judges from politics. Nene
seeks a return to the old system of CA confirmation of Supreme Court
and Judges of the lower courts appointed by the President from a
list of at least three nominees prepared after appropriate public
hearings by the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.
efrendanao2003@yahoo.com
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